Impulse

"Impulse" - Directed by William Grefe - (Grindhouse Releasing) Blu-ray

Fans who followed the adventures of William Shatner as Capt. Kirk on the television series "Star Trek" were used to seeing him in all sorts of dangerous situations but here, in this thriller from 1974 (about five years after "Star Trek" ended) the danger comes from Shatner as he portrays Matt Stone, a psychotic killer. The film, newly restored in 4K, begins with scenes of a young man watching his mother be abused physically and sexually and of course it turns out that the juvenile is a young Matt Stone, who learns all the wrong things from the experience. Cut to Matt as an adult and Shatner is in a club where he's ogling a belly dancer whom he arranges a post-performance date with. His fun time is interrupted though by his girlfriend, causing a flashback to the mom thing, and yup, girlfriend gets strangled and ends up dumped in a river in her car. Back home, Stone agonizes over what he's done, showing that at least part of him seeks to control his murderous impulses. Various similar scenarios play out throughout the film and we will not reveal here how the movie ends. Loaded with extras, the double disc Blu-ray includes the feature "Between the Treks: Shatner in the 1970s" that looks at his film and TV work including spots on "The Twilight Zone" and "Outer Limits," a 2022 interview segment from Santa Monica, CA called "Kingdom of the Shatner," audio commentary from director Grefe, an interview with famed makeup artist Doug Hobart, an interview with art director Roger Carlton Sherman, an alternate French soundtrack and copious outtakes from Grefe's vaults. Underground filmmaker Jacques Boyreau pens liner notes for the very nice included booklet and there's also a postcard-size souvenir photo of Shatner as Stone. To top it all off the Blu-ray case in packaged in a cardboard outer slipcase that's very colorful and that has an embossed cover. It makes for a great collectible for fans of Shatner and vintage cult classics alike.

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